by Paula Peeters | Dec 24, 2019 | Beechmont Nature Journal, Nature journaling
The Queensland Lacebark Tree Brachychiton discolor Along a path strewn with brown fire-killed leaves; dried, drought-killed leaves, and scattered with charcoal and ash – I find this: Opulent pink flowers, freshly tumbled, two hundred or more. While above me springs...
by Paula Peeters | Nov 22, 2019 | Beechmont Nature Journal, Cartoons
I’m finding it a bit hard to be cheerful these days. Heat, smoke, prolonged drought and more fires. Frustration at the lack of action on climate change, while its effects are becoming more and more obvious. My beloved Lamington National Park is still closed, so...
by Paula Peeters | Nov 17, 2019 | Letter from Beechmont, Writing
Flame trees, jacarandas and silky oaks, are flowering wildly, against the smoke. Two months since we nearly lost our house in the Binna Burra bushfire, and fires continue to burn all around us. Our lives are saturated with smoke. What has been incinerated to end up in...
by Paula Peeters | Sep 14, 2019 | Beechmont Nature Journal, Cartoons
A cartoon about last weekend’s unprecedented fire at Binna Burra. It’s wobbly because that’s how I feel right now. But all around our house the birds are singing and I heard a koala bellow just before I posted this. So life goes on, and I’m...
by Paula Peeters | Sep 13, 2019 | Writing
I found this charred piece of someone’s book on the edge of Timbarra Drive, Beechmont, where 10 houses were destroyed by fire last weekend. I talked to some firefighters who were patrolling the area in a truck, and thanked them for the amazing work they had done to...
